title: Validation of one-mile walk equations for the estimation of aerobic fitness in British military personnel under the age of 40 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide an accurate estimate of peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) for British Royal Navy Personnel aged between 18 and 39, comparing a gold standard treadmill based maximal exercise test with a submaximal one-mile walk test.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred military personnel consented to perform a treadmill-based VO2 peak test and two one-mile walk tests round an athletics track. The estimated VO2 peak values from three different one-mile walk equations were compared to directly measured VO2 peak values from the treadmill-based test. One hundred participants formed a validation group from which a new equation was derived and the other 100 participants formed the cross-validation group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Existing equations underestimated the VO2 peak values of the fittest personnel and overestimated the VO2 peak of the least aerobically fit by between 2% and 18%. The new equation derived from the validation group has less bias, the highest correlation with the measured values (r = 0.83), and classified the most people correctly according to the Royal Navy's Fitness Test standards, producing the fewest false positives and false negatives combined (9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new equation will provide a more accurate estimate of VO2 peak for a British military population aged 18 to 39.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Medicine and Science, Institute of Naval Medicine, Gosport, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lunt
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roiz De Sa
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roiz De Sa
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allsopp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008889:Military Personnel; D009326:Naval Medicine; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010809:Physical Fitness; D006113:United Kingdom; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult